


Never Felt Comfortable Like This

by orphan_account



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Body Worship, Everyone Loves Shiro, Fluff, Kissing, M/M, Multi, Polyamory Negotiations, Smut, Sweet, with feelings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-25
Updated: 2016-07-25
Packaged: 2018-07-26 18:10:25
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7584652
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone loves Shiro. Specifically Hunk, Keith, and Lance and, in a rare show of (debatable) maturity, they talk it out and decide the best solution is to share. Shiro is...skeptical about the logic, and sanity, of that choice. He intends to let them down gently and for that to be the end of it. Things do not go according to plan. </p><p>As it turns out Hunk, Keith, and Lance are each pretty persuasive, in their own ways.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Never Felt Comfortable Like This

**Author's Note:**

> More polyships! I love polyships in this fandom. I just. I really do. 
> 
> Story and chapter titles comes from Coffee, by Miguel, which is also the song that sort of...inspired this.

Shiro had suspected that something was up with his fellow paladins, he just hadn’t imagined it would be anything like _this_. Though, once he pulled his mouth off the floor and regathered himself to look back on the situation clearly, maybe he should have seen it? For a few weeks there had been an undercurrent of hostility in the air and not just between Lance and Keith, but had included Hunk as well.

All three had seemed short tempered and almost sullen. Which was Keith’s natural state of existence, sure, but for Lance and especially Hunk it was out of character to be in a funk so long. It was even more of character that they’d be annoyed with each other and yet he’d witnessed Lance and Hunk actually snapping at each other a few times. He’d tried to watch and see at first, then tried to speak to them individually to figure it out and smooth it over (only to be met with ‘there’s nothing wrong’ from all three, and then insisted they deal with each other _Or Else_.

The Or Else was that he’d set Allura loose on them. She wasn’t going to take kindly to them arguing and refusing to work out their differences and they knew it. There’d been some grumbling but then they’d all shuffled off to somewhere in the castle to talk it out. He’d halfway been afraid he was going to have to go find them later and would stumble across some dead bodies but an hour or so later they’d shown up for lunch looking relatively calm.

Shiro had figured everything was sorted out since after that things were more or less normal if not a little overly...calm. Lance and Keith almost never argued and instead could be found sitting together, heads tilted closer and whispering with Hunk. The lack of hostility was nice if not a little concerning, though not so concerning that he’d been willing to question it and risk shattering the new found peace.

Maybe that should have been the first tip off that something was up.

If not that then the fact he found himself being invited to do things with them. Not that hanging out with his fellow paladins was unusual, there weren’t many ways to pass the time aside from together, but...there had been something unusual about it.

Hunk inviting him to help him work on some speeders and broken down jump ships he and Keith were tinkering with, somehow roping him into helping him cook, tending to the garden Hunk had stumbled onto and was trying to bring back to life together. He’d been surprised about being invited in at first, knowing it was ‘Hunk’s Space’ but he’d found he actually enjoyed it. That and the time spent pouring over old Altean holovids and books about plants side by side, always with Hunk sitting a little closer than the time before, were things he looked forward to.

Lance who convinced him to go out and explore the planet they were on but insisting they only took Blue so they ended up close together in the cockpit. Leading him on hikes and walks through alien forests by the hand, laughing and talking near nonstop until they were high enough up to see the unfamiliar stars. Lance could spend hours just pointing at things, drawing shapes with his fingers for Shiro to follow, and making up stories to go with the images.

Keith showing up to spar, which wasn’t new, but fighting harder, going at it longer, refusing to yield when pinned under Shiro. Seeking him out to just sit around, not always speaking but, rather, keeping him company. The companionable silence was nice, kept Shiro from getting lost in his head. It grounded him and he needed that more than he cared to admit. And when he did talk, about what he remembered and his nightmares, Keith listened without comment and that was exactly what Shiro needed.

There were other things too, like them jumping to help out around the castle (Alteans, sadly, hadn’t developed self cleaning ships) and showing up for training without complaints. There was a lot less complaining in general, actually. Not even Allura at her most vehement got more than sighs and resigned nods all of a sudden.

He’d spoken to Allura and Coran about it and both had been adamant that they didn’t care what it was so long as it continued. Pidge had shrugged, told him she liked the lack of fighting, and it wasn’t as if Shiro didn’t like it as well. Everyone getting along and helping out was amazing.

But he should have known something was up.

There had also been...well gifts, he supposed, that popped up after they were planetside. Alien candies, books (both ‘academic’ and some that amounted to smutty spaceport novels that he was only a little ashamed of actually reading. Multiple times.) and an array of soaps, oils, and lotions he couldn’t deny that he enjoyed. No one ever took credit for the gifts but, if he thought about, maybe they had, in subtle ways. Smiling when they saw him reading or eating those candies,  off hand comments about him smelling nice.

It had been there, he just hadn’t put it together. Willful ignorance maybe because looking back on everything it seemed obvious. He should have had some kind of inclination, at least enough that he wasn’t struck dumb when Keith, Hunk, and Lance showed up in his room to proclaim that they liked him.

 _Liked_.

The three of them.

Him. Which...didn’t...why? It was a lot to try and take in, especially with them standing there and waiting for him to say something. But what the hell was he supposed to say? Thanks? That he was flattered? That he was seriously questioning their taste and was going to spend the rest of the night wondering if he'd done something to lead them on?

He let his tablet fall to the side and pushed himself up so he was sitting on the edge of the bed and looked between the three of them. All barefoot, in their sleep clothes, wearing near identical embarrassed looks and blushing but also very determined. No one was laughing or looked anything less than completely serious so he doubted it was a joke.

Which brought him back to his initial thought.

“What?”

They exchanged looks then Hunk, who seemed to have been voted the spokesman for the three of them (Shiro could see the logic in that choice.), took a deep breath. “We. All three of us. Are interested in you. Err...romantically? I guess.”

Shiro blinked at them. “What?”

Lance sighed impatiently. “We think you’re really fucking hot.”

Keith hissed Lance’s name and shoved him, earning himself a glare. Keith glared back and, for a moment, it looked like things were about to go south which, at least, would have been a situation that made sense to him. Keith and Lance fighting was annoying but he knew how to deal with it. This other thing though. He did not know what to do with that.

At all.

“We do not think that. ...okay, we do.” Hunk corrected, face flushing a deeper red. “But not just that. You’re a good person and fun to be around and you look out for everyone and always put everyone else first and you're smart and funny and...we like you. A lot. Is what we’re saying.”

Shiro’s mouth might have fallen open again. They thought that about him? He glanced at the other two, perhaps for confirmation or maybe just because the sincerity on Hunk’s voice was making his chest hurt.

Keith and Lance stopped glowering at each other to nod their enthusiastic agreement. Shiro blinked again then laughed before he could stop himself, shaking his head. Their expressions shifted, Keith’s going blank and closed off, Lance confused, and Hunk anxious. He sobered up almost instantly; laughing after someone (someones?) confessed that they were interested in you was not a good idea.

“I’m sorry I just...you’ve been taking me on dates? Right? And I had no idea.” He was an idiot.

It seemed obvious in hindsight. All the things they’d been doing together; stargazing, which he knew was Lance’s favorite thing to do. Gardening and cooking which he knew was what Hunk did to calm down and keep it together. Keith finding him and staying with him in silence for hours, listening to him talk about his bullshit when he knew Keith had issues of his own. The closeness, casual touching, accidental brushes against each other, and even occasional hand holding.

“I’m an idiot.”

Hunk looked startled. “What? No! We uh...didn’t tell you on purpose?”

“We thought maybe if we just hung out without you thinking it was ‘dates’, or whatever,” Keith rolled his eyes. “You might turn out to like one of us and if you didn’t know we all liked you then you’d be able to pick without worrying about hurting the other two.”

Like one of them.

 _One_ of them.

As in reject the other two?

He sat up straighter, shaking his head. “I couldn’t-”

“Wait, don’t say what you’re about to say!” Lance held up a hand like it would physically halt the flow of words. “Hear us out first.”

He was doubted there was anything they could say to get around the fact that even if he was interested in one of them it would mean blowing off the other two. That was something he wouldn’t, under any circumstances, do. They were his friends, his team, and he wasn’t about to do anything to mess that up.

Or maybe it was already messed up.

Keith, being Keith, didn’t wait for him to answer and instead barrelled forward, hands clenched into fists at his side and eyes bright with determination. “We thought that maybe since things seemed to be...good, right now we could just keep doing what we’re doing. Except you know that we’re taking you out. And spending time together as maybe more than friends. The three of us. If you wanted to.”

Shiro was, once again, struck dumb. That. That was actually not even close to anything he would imagined as a possible solution. He was, in fact, pretty sure that was not how things were supposed to work. There was really only one thing to say to it.

“What?”

“We’re all having fun, right? You’ve been having fun?” Keith asked, tone pointed as if he was daring Shiro to argue.

There wasn't anything to argue. He had enjoyed the time hanging out with them, of course. So he nodded slowly, not in the habit of lying to his friends.

“We want to keep doing that.” Lance said, taking over. “But with you knowing about it because it's fun and all like it is but you not being in on things made it limiting. You know?”

“Sure.” He didn't know but he didn't want to ask at this stage. There was enough going on without getting into the finer details just yet. He would get them, eventually, but for now he just wanted to get through this without upsetting or hurting anyone. “So what you're saying is you want to keep things the same, except that I'm aware of your...feelings?”

“Pretty much, yeah. But,” Hunk’s eyes darted up to meet his and then down. “Only if you're interested in us. And we agree that if you aren't interested, or are only interested in one of us or two or...that's fine with us. We're just asking for a shot. If you're interested.”

They exchanged looks again then nodded in unison, showing they were all on the same page. He bit his lower lip thoughtfully. The smartest thing to do was to let them all down gently now before anyone could get more invested or attached to this crazy idea. He couldn't date, in so far as as anyone was dating anyone these days while floating around in space fighting a war, all three of them. It was a terrible idea that was only going to end in hurt feelings no matter what they said.

There was just no way.

It wasn't realistic, even if he did enjoy spending time with them and getting to see them doing the things they enjoyed most with them. And having someone around most of the time bad been nice but that was just selfishness, wasn't it? He couldn't string his friends, his teammates, along because he was lonely. He was a lot of things, some of them he didn't like, but he wasn't the sort of person who did that to people he cared about.

Shiro took a steadying breath then smiled. “I am flattered that you three think I'm so great but-”

“Do you like us?” Lance interrupted, lips twisted into a frown. Shiro rubbed at the bridge of his nose, scar tissue smooth under his fingertips.

Of course he liked them. They were his friends after all but he knew that wasn't the question. The question was did he think he could ‘like’ them, and he could feel the middle school emphasis on the word, and the answer to that was...complicated, if he was being honest. They were three very different people, and he hadn't given a lot of thought to anything beyond what he'd thought was there so he was a little on the spot in that regard.

He should say no. Explain that he wasn't interested, keep things normal.

“I don't know.” Shiro didn't like lying to people if he didn't have to, especially people he cared about.

“Then find out.” Lance said it like it was obvious, a simple solution for a simple problem. “No one is asking you to get married or declare undying love. Unless you want to in which case we can ditch these other two right now.

Keith scoffed. “Because it would be you Shiro was into.”

“Yes.” Lance agreed. “Who else? I’m Shiro’s favorite.”

Shiro hadn’t been aware he had a favorite.

Hunk nudged Lance who shrugged and muttered something that sounded like ‘not my fault I'm so sexy’; Shiro snorted then sighed, rubbing at the back of his neck.

“I don't think I understand this at all.”

“We just want to...keep hanging out. See where things go.” Hunk supplied and there was that chest tightening honesty and kindness in his voice and on his face.

Shiro only just managed to keep from sighing in frustration. “With the three of you, at the same time.”

Keith made a dismissive gesture. “Doesn't bother us.”

Clearly.

“I'm fairly certain there are rules for how relationships work and that this is against them.”

“According to who?”  Lance’s eyebrow went up. “We're in space piloting psychic magical lions and fighting fuzzy purple people and I, for one, think we're entitled to make new rules up as we go. Defenders of the universe privilege.”

“Is not a real thing.” Hunk's face scrunched up like Lance's words had caused him physical pain.

Lance huffed. “It should be.”

“Or no rules at all.” Keith added. Shiro doubted anyone was surprised by that opinion. “Why can't we just do this however we want?”

Once again Shiro was left without a response, or at least one beyond ‘because that isn't how life is’, something he doubted was going to be accepted. He felt a headache coming on.

Maybe it showed on his face because all of a sudden Hunk had Keith and Lance hooked by their wrists and was dragging them to the door.

“How about you think it over and we can talk more later?” Hunk said as he ushered the other two out. Shiro shrugged, not entirely sure anyone actually saw it.

The last thing he heard was Lance’s “Yeah, but-” before his door slid shut after them, cutting off all outside noise. He stared at the door blankly for a few minutes, very seriously contemplating what a mess his life had become since Kerberos, then picked his tablet back up.

He would talk to them tomorrow and explain things better.

 

\---

 

The next day found him trailing Hunk to the greenhouse and listening as the other chatted idly about something he'd read that morning. He hadn't slept well the night before, had woken up later than he liked, and Keith and Lance were nowhere to be found. Which was to say Shiro’s day was starting off pretty badly. Hunk had popped up from somewhere and asked if he wanted to come along to check in the plants and Shiro had agreed.

They needed to talk and the greenhouse was a quiet private place.

Hunk had been trying out what seemed like every intergalactic gardening tip there was lately in an attempt to get the Altean seeds they’d stumbled on to grow.

They’d found them sealed in a preservation machine but had no way of knowing if they would grow or not. On the one hand the ship had done its job in keeping Coran and Allura alive all that time but on the other hand the greenhouse had been barren, everything that had once grown there long dead.

It wasn't hard to believe the seeds would be the same.

There were other plants in the greenhouse, picked up from other planets they'd visited, but Shiro knew it was the small plot he was keeping for the Altean seeds that had Hunk’s full attention. He understood why, there was next to nothing left of Coran and Allura’s people, their home, except a castle and some mice. Bringing even a little something to life would...well it wouldn't be much.

But it would be something.

“Coran says there’s a planet not too far off, in deep space terms, that had a thriving Spyry population and, if that book is right, their manure is guaranteed to make anything sprout.” Hunk continued as they walked along the faintly glowing blue path. Alien plants, tall and small, surrounded them on both sides  “I was thinking I'd take Yellow down to check it out.”

Shiro did his best to smother a grin. “Are you really going to land on some alien planet so you can pick up animal ‘manure’?”

“Yep.” Hunk tossed him a grin over his shoulder. “You can come too. Might be fun.”

“We might need to talk about your idea of fun.” Hunk laughed and, in spite of everything, Shiro did as well. Hunk was easy to laugh with, easy to be around. He was steady, grounded and realistic in a way the others weren't always. (ideas about forming a Voltron snake aside and even then, not the most off the wall thing Shiro had ever heard.) Shiro appreciated that even with their lives as crazy as they'd become that there was someone who was still moderately sensible.

There were a lot of things he...appreciated about Hunk. Not that at he'd sat up late thinking about them.

Hunk stopped abruptly, so much so that Shiro nearly collided with his back, head cocking to the side as a noise of surprise filled the air. Shiro stepped around him, looking first at Hunk’s wide eyed look of awe and then at the plot of dirt in front of them.

The Altean plot. Up until now it had been carefully watched over dirt and not much else but now he could see a few, maybe a half dozen, little blue shoots had breached the surface. They were thin and delicate looking, lacking leaves or any identifying features yet, barely there at all.

But they were there.

Shiro breathed out, something warm blooming in his chest that he knew was bigger than a few sprouts deserved and yet.

It felt big.

And then it felt like he was being crushed; Hunk's arms around him and his body tightened against the other paladin’s as he was hugged hard. All the air was driven from his body and he was lifted right off of his feet; Hunk was a lot stronger than Shiro sometimes gave him credit for and this was the proof.

But he didn't try to get away or tell Hunk to set him down. The hug was warm and...real. they were pressed tight together, so tight that Shiro was sure he could feel Hunk's heart beating. It was nice, especially once Hunk seemed to realize he was putting all of his strength into it and let up some.

Shiro didn't…

There hadn't been much by way of contact for a long time that wasn't fighting. Even now there weren't many hugs coming his way and certainly none like this, full of what seemed like pure happiness. So Shiro hugged him back, carefully because he never quite trusted himself and his hand.

Hunk stiffened for a moment then sighed and, briefly, squeezed him tighter before setting him back into his feet fully. Shiro expected to be let go but the seconds slipped by and it didn't happen. He tilted his head to look at Hunk's face, found him blushing and looking everywhere but at him. And yet his grip was strong, giving no hints he planned to let Shiro go.

“Hunk?”

“Sorry.” Hunk mumbled sheepishly. “I. Uh. Yeah. Sorry.”

“It's fine. I...it's fine.”

Hunk’s eyes finally meet his own, dark brown and brimming with so much affection that Shiro felt breathless under the look. Did Hunk always look at him like that? No, he couldn't, Shiro would have noticed. There was no way to miss that look.

Hunk didn't let him go but his hands slid, slowly as if giving Shiro a chance to protest, around until they were pressed against his back. The air shifted around them, became heavier, and Shiro felt dizzy; Hunk's fingers flexed against the small of his back.

“Can I kiss you?”

No.

No.

He absolutely needed to say no and step back and stop all of this before it went to his head. More to his head. Wasn't he supposed to be stepping back from this and explaining the many ways this dating thing was a bad idea?

“Okay.”...had he said that? Why had he said that?

Hunk, to his credit, didn’t give him any time to think it over or question himself beyond his initial surprise. One second he was inhaling sharply and wondering what the hell he was going and the next Hunk’s lips were pressed against his own. It was soft at first, a hesitant touch of dry lips against his, barely there at all. Then, as he stared wide eyed at Hunk and his hands clenched around the other’s arms, a little more pressure, a little more insistent, firmer.

Hunk’s head tilted a little, changed the angle so their lips slid, overlapped, and then fit together. It was almost innocent, nothing more that a careful closed mouth kiss, but Shiro’s heart was pounding and not completely from surprise.

It was…

It was nice. Good.

Shiro closed his eyes and leaned in, kissed back, felt Hunk smiling, and knew that he was in trouble. A few backwards steps, guided by Hunk, and his back was against a wall and large warm hands were on his waist, squeezing and the kiss became less chaste as Hunk's tongue traced the seam of his lips. He opened up for him, sighed into it. 

When was the last time he'd kissed anyone ?

He was in _so_ much trouble. 

**Author's Note:**

> *sigh* This is another thing that was meant to be porn (Just a lot of Shiro getting worshipped and wrecked) but instead you get a few chapters of fluffy sugary plot before the porn. ...I'm sorry. I think? ...not really. 
> 
> Next Chapter: Crass Humor and Street Fashion (I'll let you guess who, Keith or Lance, the next one will focus on.) ;)


End file.
